In the article Family and Women's Lives, by Susan Lehrer, she talks of how the typical or normal family is not normal at all in modern day sociaty." Only25% of American households are married couples and their children; the "traditional" version, in which the father is the sole breadwinner, accounts for only 8.2% of American households and certainly does not reflect the realities of most of us," (Lehrer,233). This stereotype has been around for ever but in fact it is not the "normal" family at all, but supprisingly enough it is burned into our brains as the "American Dream." Men have been the highest paid sex ever since the beginning of industrialization. Even when women worked the same jobs they were lucky to recieve one-fourth or barely even one-half of the men's wages. This is what started the "power of the purse," this is who controls the money and all major decisions in the family. As the times have changes so have families, drasticly, but the social stigma has not. Families have evolved but not far from the mother upholding the house and raising the children.
The women seem to lose every time. If they stay home and raise the family and are considered a home body, within the eyes of the peers and other women they are considered weak, submissive, and old fashioned. But if they are independant with no other partner in the house hold they are viewed as not fit mothers because they are not spending enough time with their family. In either situation the women are looked down upon but if there is not enough food on the table the women are supposed to pass it on so that the husband and the children will stay well fed and healthy.
With the social stereo type of the at home mother, if the woman does have and equall carrear as the man does she is expected to come home and do her second shift of work for the day. The house work. In some cases the partners split up the chores but, "Even when both husband and wife work full-time, throughout the 1980's, two-thirds of working wives reported that they did most or all of the housework."
Overall the times are changing but sociaties view of the normal family is not and until we can change these views we will not be able to change the misinterpretation of the house hold, wife, mother and caretaker.
Lehrer, Susan. 1992. "Family and Women's Lives." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities; A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp. 233-237.
In the article My Church Threw Me Out, by Mary Ann Sorrentino, gives a very interesting view point of the church, families, and sexism. Mary Ann is a married, Italian mother who is the executive director of the Planned Parenthood of Rhode Island. She is an active member of the Catholic Church and her daughter was almost revoked the right of becoming confirmed within the church because of her mother's occupation. Mary Ann did not necessarily condone abortions but believed that "every woman should be allowed to excersice her own conscience and her own choice." (Sorrentino,289). And because of her occupation the Church automaticly assumed that her daughter was in favor of abortion and was about to refuse her confirmation.
So the couple and their daughter had to have a meeting with their a priest and Luisa, the daughter, had to openly say that she was against abortion and if she did not say thoses exact words she was not to recieve being a part of the Catholic chuch. Luisa did indee get confirmed but Mary Ann and her husband are bound by silence becasue they can not make this public because it would jepordize Luisa's future and Mary Ann herself would get excommunicated from the church as well. So Mary Ann is forced to be silent.
This article relates very well to the topic at hand because the Catholic church is an establishment of tradition as well. Both the church and Mary Ann were bound with traditions that they would not break but the church was bound to break Mary Ann. With the change in times churches have altered their belifs aswell. This only goes to show that families, women, religion, and viewpoints change with the times and each has to be open to and willing to work with the other otherwise there will be no forward movement and each will be at a standstill.
Sorrnetino, Mary Ann. 1986. "My Church Threw Me Out." In Kesselman et al. Women: Images and Realities; A Multicultural Anthology. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. Pp.288-291.